The owner of a garage robbed for the third time in seven years says the safety of its staff is paramount.

MRH Ltd owns the ESSO service station on Stonelaw Road where a member of staff was threatened at knife point and cash stolen on Sunday morning.

The company’s security was called into question when locals claimed the man was working alone when the robbery occurred at 5am.

MRH would not tell the Reformer what additional security had been put in place to protect workers following robberies in March 2011 and April 2013, but said: “The health, safety and wellbeing of our customers and employees is of paramount importance.

“We are working closely with the relevant authorities in response to this incident.

“We ask that anyone with any information regarding the incident contacts the police while they conduct their investigation.”

The robbery of the service station has seen locals call for more security for staff at the petrol station which is open 24 hours a day.

Shahid Sami, who runs the newsagents on Stonelaw Road, said: “That’s open 24 hours and some petrol stations have the windows where people pay at night, but they don’t have one. You don’t know who is going to come in.

“Safety comes first.”

Mr Sami says he does not feel uneasy about working in Burnside, despite the robbery at RBS in 2016, Betfred in 2012 and recent break-in at Cafe India.

Rajinder Dhami, who runs Burnside Post Office, said she has never experienced any problems in the 21 years she has worked there, but confirmed security is paramount.

“We have always had screens across the counters,” she said.

“The post office wanted us to become more open plan but we said no.

“We would never dream of taking them away as we are dealing with money. We do more banking (now that RBS is closed) but we know our customers so we feel it’s a safe environment.”

Police are appealing for all those with information regarding the robbery to come forward.

The suspect is white, in his 40s, 5ft 10, of heavy build, and was wearing a black tammy hat and scarf, a black jacket and was carrying a black backpack.

Detective Constable Derek Young from Cambuslang CID said: “I would appeal to anyone who was near to the petrol station or in the surrounding area in the early hours of the morning who saw anything suspicious or noticed a man matching the above description to please get in touch.

“Anyone with information is asked to contact Cambuslang CID via 101, quoting incident number 0878 of Sunday, January 21, 2018. Alternatively you can call CRIMESTOPPERS on 0800 555 111 where details can be given in confidence.”